Thank you for this. The problem/question of composition has never bothered me (the exact nature of composition is a mystery that we'll never know... the important thing is that the text we have now can be read as a coherent whole), but your post is a reminder that I should read the Cassuto book. It's been on my shelf long enough.
What do you think סֵפֶר means in Numbers 21:14? Or the Septuagint for Genesis 2:4 (ἡ βίβλος γενέσεως οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς)? I imagine "book" meant something different then.
As to ספר in Num 21:14 -- I assume it is not referring to an object, but to this work as a composition. LXX to Gen 2:4 is perhaps just matching 5:1, or perhaps they were uncomfortable with the idea of heaven and earth having תולדות.
Thank you for this. The problem/question of composition has never bothered me (the exact nature of composition is a mystery that we'll never know... the important thing is that the text we have now can be read as a coherent whole), but your post is a reminder that I should read the Cassuto book. It's been on my shelf long enough.
What do you think סֵפֶר means in Numbers 21:14? Or the Septuagint for Genesis 2:4 (ἡ βίβλος γενέσεως οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς)? I imagine "book" meant something different then.
If you have an older edition of Cassuto, be sure to look at Joshua Berman's introduction to the newest one: https://www.academia.edu/7265751/Cassuto_s_The_Documentary_Hypothesis_and_the_Paradigm_Shift_in_Biblical_Studies. Berman's own books are pushing back on the Documentary Hypothesis from a 21st-c. religious perspective.
As to ספר in Num 21:14 -- I assume it is not referring to an object, but to this work as a composition. LXX to Gen 2:4 is perhaps just matching 5:1, or perhaps they were uncomfortable with the idea of heaven and earth having תולדות.
Should have added: Ed Greenstein has an article on ספר מלחמות ה׳ that you might want to look at.
Thanks!